Morning Afterglow
by Drea Jackman
Summary: Sequel to 'The Games We Play'. Thanks Cale. You're one in a million an' I hope you know it!


Title: Morning Afterglow  
  
CoWritten By: Drea & Cale  
  
Email: DreaJackman@Literati.co.uk  
Cale@4-your-EYES-ONLY.com  
(Respectively)  
  
Rating: PG (Pretty innocent)  
  
Summary: The morning after the night before...  
  
Series: X5  
  
Disclaimer: We own none of the characters involved, not one of them. All Dark Angel  
characters are property of Cameron/Eglee Productions and 20th Century FOX.   
  
Dedication: Let this be our "Heartfelt Congratulations to Michael & Jessica on their  
engagement" dedication. All the best!  
  
Archive: Just email one of us and let us know, thanks.  
  
Feedback: Hell yeah! It's another of the small pleasures of writing.  
  
Author's Note: Our little sequel written in nothing but fun, just to wrap up the happenings in  
'The Games We Play' a little better.  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
That morning Max awoke fairly early as usual, but this time things were very different.  
The room was brighter than it had seemed before. Soon she became aware of the sound  
of slow and eased breathing beside her. With a little smile she slowly turned over and  
saw Logan asleep. He looked so innocent and peaceful. Max was contented just to lie  
there and watch him.  
  
As the moments passed she thought over how they'd met, how they'd argued, what they'd  
faced. Logan's struggle to finally free himself from the chair. At one point he'd felt it so  
badly that he'd almost killed himself. All traces of happiness left with the thought that  
he'd felt alone and had shut her out in attempting it. Again, these feelings were fleeting as  
she thankfully reminded herself that Logan had beaten the chair, to doctors expectations  
to the opposite, he was walking. Most importantly for her he was alive. Max loved him so  
much.  
  
Without even realizing it she felt the course stubble she loved so much against her lips,  
just lightly enough for her to feel it. Her reasoning followed shortly afterwards. 'Damn it  
Normal's gonna be furious.' she cursed herself mentally as she glanced over Logan to the  
bedside clock.   
  
Although she really didn't want to have to wake him, she figured she'd better. Nothing'd  
be worse than Logan waking up to an empty bed. There was no way on this Planet she'd  
regret last night and Logan couldn't be allowed to think for a single second that the  
possibility existed.  
  
Almost playfully Max leaned ever closer and blew gently in his ear a little before  
whispering to him.  
  
"Logan? C'mon sleeping beauty, wake up." she teased.  
  
Logan heard the magical voice and turned towards it, a smile forming on his face. How  
many times he had dreamt this would happen, and now it was no longer a dream.  
  
His blue eyes opened up slowly to look straight into Max's beautiful brown eyes. He kept  
the eye contact for a moment, than closed his eyes again as he pulled himself even closer  
to Max and kissed her shoulder.  
  
"Good morning, Max." the words came out without thought, feeling like music in his  
mouth. It was all so perfect.  
  
Max shifted herself to sit up a little more but didn't move herself any further away from  
Logan. The stray rays of sunlight streaming in through the window seemed to weave their  
way through his hair illuminating and highlighting each strand it's own individual colour.  
Not one to resist the urge, Max gently ran her fingers through the still upstanding flecks  
of hair.  
  
Although under any other circumstances Max'd be only too happy to go in late or even  
call in one of her overused sickdays. But things weren't like they were before. All too  
aware of her own financial status, Max was also keenly aware that Logan's fortune had  
been dwindling since he pulled the plug on his Uncle's operation. Not that he was in dyer  
striates yet. 'It's not a case of him anymore. It's "us".' she reminded herself.  
  
'Normal's gonna get some half-assed deliveries for this.' she smirked to herself as she  
thought up her revenge for work having to drag her out of bed prematurely. A few  
moments later she finally drew herself away from her reverie.  
  
"Aw, you know how hard you're makin' this?" she whined, still no sign of moving away.  
  
Logan sat up, elevating himself to Max's level. Looking into Max's eyes, he smiled and  
leant in for Eskimo kisses. As his nose gently brushed against hers, he whispered "no, not  
really".  
  
It was all too obvious that he'd do anything to keep her with him in bed for the day. He  
gently kissed her soft lips in an attempt to arouse her. He wasn't letting go of her without  
a fight.  
  
Max frowned and tried her best at that little thing she bearly remembered called focus.  
Something told her it wasn't going to work any, certainly not today and certainly not with  
Logan.  
  
"Didn't know you had this evil side to you." she joked as she kissed him back.  
  
Letting a few more minutes pass like this Max finally pushed Logan over onto his back.  
Trailing small kisses down his neck she used them to punctuate her every word.  
  
"You, aren't, any, help, at all." she said softly as she brought her lips back to his.  
  
After another few seconds she finally broke away and smiled down at him.  
  
"I have to work. Normal's gonna have a breakdown and the guys are gonna want backup."  
  
The thought of Normal having a breakdown and yelling at Sketchy, Cindy and the others  
to haul ass was a tempting one. The guy just looked so useless when no one listened. She  
didn't listen, it was fun.   
  
Leaning over Logan's outstretched body beside her she grabbed hold of the first piece of  
clothing she could find on the floor without looking. As she brought it up into view she  
shrugged and pulled it on. Logan's T-shirt was a perfect fit. Then Max remembered  
something and looked back at him with an evil smile.  
  
"Told you I wanted this one."  
  
Logan stretched out his hand toward Max and gave her a puppy look. Sighing, he let her  
be on her way.  
  
"See me for lunch?" he asked as she was about to leave. He got out of bed, wrapping one  
of the thin sheets around his waist as he moved towards the shower.  
  
He leant against the wall, weak with happiness. How amazing everything felt. He stayed  
unmoving for a few minutes, just simply in content with his life.  
  
  
Max covered her eyes trying to bring in some immunity to his puppy-dog-eyes routine. If  
she looked at his expression right then her willpower would break and she'd probably end  
up spending the whole day in bed with him. 'Not the way to earn a living girl.' she  
reminded herself. 'But a damn sure way to be happy and have a good time!'  
  
As Logan got out of bed she did the same, pulling his T-shirt down as far as it would go.  
'You're modest now?' she wondered then thought again as the shirt bearly covered any of  
her thighs. 'Definitely not shy.'  
  
"Count on it." she replied as she picked up her jeans, her top. Her bra etc. took a little  
while longer to find but she soon tracked them down under the edge of the chair in the  
corner.  
  
Smiling she walked up to him and laid a hand on his chest allowing herself to admire his  
stance on her way. If she knew anything from the night before, and this amoung all  
others, was that Logan definitely had moves she'd never expected nor had dreamed. He  
had definitely surprised her.  
  
Against her better judgment she kissed him, only to realise seconds later that she was  
going to condemn herself and him at this rate. With a slight moan she pulled herself away  
from him to move away, but made the mistake of catching eye contact again. Within  
seconds of that, her lips were on his again all the while knowing she should be heading  
for the door.  
  
'This is gonna require help.' she thought.  
  
Logan grinned as he pulled her in against himself. He knew somewhere deep inside that  
he should let her go, but he wasn't really listening. It wasn't often Logan got greedy, then  
again, it wasn't often he was this happy.  
  
Sighing as he came to realization, that he really should let her go, as sad as it may be.  
  
Logan pulled back, smiling at Max. "Go." he said simply. "If you don't leave soon, you'll  
be late for our lunch together." he smiled at the thought.  
  
Max released her grip on Logan's waist and drew back, eyes still closed. Taking a few  
deep breaths to collect herself she slowly opened them to meet his downward gaze. With  
a simple but reluctant nod she took a few steps back. 'God this is hard.'  
  
"I'll see you then." Max replied almost distantly. Wasn't hard to see her mind was on  
other things at that moment, but so far and with a little of Logan's help, she was coping.  
They were almost keeping each other in check.  
  
As she grabbed the rest of her gear and slipped back into her jeans she stopped by the  
bedroom door briefly to offer Logan a smile. It was like taking a moment to taking him in  
fully. To register everything that had really happened the night before. With a very slight  
nod of her head she left the room with only the slightest of comments.  
  
"Don't be late." she chimed as she left his apartment.  
  



End file.
